Grow Up Mikey!
by Lioness-Goddess
Summary: Poor Mikey, he only has a week to grow up so his brothers will do something with him for Halloween.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know it's a little late for Halloween, but this has been sitting on my computer, just begging to be posted. It'll be short – two, maybe three chapters tops.

-

"Okay, okay, how about this one!"

Donnie patiently looked up from book to look at the flimsy magazine Mikey held in front of him for the fifth time.

"I don't think Peter Pan really suits you, Mikey," he said. "He wears green most of the time – it might blend in with your skin."

"Oh." Mikey looked back at his magazine, flipping a few pages before holding it up. "What about this one?"

"Don't you think it's a little early to be picking out Halloween costumes?" Don asked, setting his book down.

"What? It's only a week till Halloween and I still don't have a good one!"

"It's still a whole week. And we have things left over from last year."

"Well I wanna have a whole lotta ideas so I can be ready!" Mikey said. "Halloween is the bestest holiday eveeeer, Don!"

"No kidding," Don muttered, as he picked up the book again. As soon as summer ended, Halloween was the only holiday his younger brother ever talked about. While Raph, Leo and Don enjoyed Halloween, Mikey was a fanatic.

Picking out a million different costumes, badgering his older brothers about what they wanted to be and which blocks had houses that gave the most (or the best) candy. He didn't even seem to mind that Master Splinter usually made him wear a jacket over his painstakingly picked out costume.

"How am I gonna wait a whole week?" Mikey wailed. "They shoulda made Halloween sooner."

Don just chuckled and went back to trying to decipher the tiny print in his large book. Mikey frowned as he climbed onto the chair next to his brother. "What are you doin', anyway?"

"Trying to read this. It's interesting, but the words are really tiny."

"Hey! Maybe I could be a bug for Halloween!"

"Mikey, can you stop talking about Halloween for two seconds? It's annoying!"

"Hmph." Mikey sat back in his chair to watch Don struggle with the book. "Well what're you gonna be then?"

"I don't know," Don said, putting down the book. "I was thinking I might not go trick or treating this year. Aren't we getting a little old for it?"

"Old? Old!?" Mikey was aghast. "Blasphemy! We're only twelve!"

"That's almost a teenager," Don said. "And you don't even know what 'blasphemy' means."

"Dooooooniiiiiiieeeee…."

"Stop it, Mikey! Really, when are you gonna grow up? Now leave me alone, I want to read this."

Put out, Mike slid down from the chair. Don was no fun anymore. Time to find someone else.

Mikey found Leonardo in his room, frowning as he contemplated a large puzzle he was putting together. The entire thing was yellow, except for a Chaquita banana sticker right in the middle, so he couldn't even look at the picture on the box to help him along.

"Hey Leo?"

"What?" The blue-clad turtle asked, not looking up from his diligent search of the perfect piece.

"What are you gonna be for Halloween?"

"Oh, I don't know. Don't you think we're getting a little old for dressing up?"

"NO!"

Surprised at the ferocity of this outburst, Leo did look up from his puzzle. "Well…it is kind of a kid thing, Mikey."

Mike's lower lip began to tremble. Leo sighed. "If you still want to go, I'm sure Master Splinter will take you."

"But it's no FUN all by yourself and your dad!" Mikey said. "I want you guys to come. Isn't it fun anymore?"

"It's just embarrassing."

"What is?"

"Dressing up like…you know, so everyone can see you."

"That's the point! I like dressing up!"

"Oh, grow up, Mikey," Leo said, going back to his puzzle. "If you want to go, then go. But I don't think any of us want to."

Folding his arms, the orange banded turtle turned to leave. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I know when I'm too babyish to hang around my big brother. And at least I know to do a stupid puzzle with a stupid picture on it!"

With that, he stomped out the door. Raphael couldn't possibly feel the same as Leo and Don.

"Raph!"

Raph suppressed a groan. He had gotten to the couch and found the remote free for once; he had barely sat down when Mikey rushed up to him.

"Mikey, I got here first! I don't care what show's on."

"I wasn't gonna ask you for the remote," Mike pouted, crossing his arms. "I just wanted to ask ya what you wanted to be for Halloween this year!"

"Nothin.'"

"Huh?" Surely Raph couldn't have fallen to the idea that they were too old for Halloween!

"That's kid stuff," Raph snorted.

"But…but we are kids!"

"I ain't a kid!" Raph wasn't even paying attention to the TV now. "Don said yesterday that we are pre-teens."

"But that's not a teenager, or an adult! It still counts as a kid!"

"It does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does TOO!"

"DOES NOT!"

"RAPH!" Before he knew what he was doing, Mikey leapt onto the couch and punched his brother in the arm.

"Michelangelo!"

Gulping, Mikey immediately slid away from Raph. Splinter stood there, hands on hips, tail twitching. "Did you just purposely hit your brother?"

Mikey cast his gaze to the ground, remaining silent.

"Michelangelo! I asked you a question. Did you just hit your brother?"

"Y-yes. Yes, sensei."

Splinter shook his head. "What have I told you boys about hitting a brother?"

"Don't do it," Mikey sighed.

"Come along," Splinter said, extending his hand to help Mike off the couch. "We shall have to find a punishment for you."

Mikey nodded silently, biting back tears as he got off the couch and followed Splinter. It wasn't HIS fault Raph and Donnie and even Leo thought that they were too old for Halloween now – he had just gotten frustrated, that's all. And he hadn't MEANT to hit Raph. It just sort of…happened.

Splinter stopped outside the door to his bedroom. Mikey looked up at him, curious as to what his punishment was to be. Usually punishments took place in the dojo.

"I can tell you are agitated, Michelangelo," Splinter said. "Therefore I will not make your punishment too harsh, as long as you are willing to tell me what's on your mind when you are calmer. Agreed?"

Mikey nodded.

"Good. Now, I have just gotten three large boxes filled with clothes and items for winter – it is getting colder out and I do not want you boys to get sick. I want you to go through them all and separate any that cannot be used. Come find me when you finish."

"Okay," Mikey said quietly.

Splinter laid a hand on his son's head for a moment before walking away. The orange- banded turtle pulled open the screen that made the door to Master Splinter's room, and sure enough, found three boxes filled with clothing waiting for him on his sensei's bed.

Mikey climbed onto the bed and pulled the first box toward him. "Stupid brothers," he muttered as he pulled out a big puffy sweater and set it beside the box. "I thought they liked Halloween." His hand grabbed something rough, and he pulled out a filthy sock. He set it to the other side of the box. "It's not really kid's stuff, is it? I see grown-ups having Halloween parties on TV."

The next item was a pair of slacks – too big for him or his brothers, but still went into the pile with the sweater. "But TV isn't always real," he mused. "I mean, people get shot and stuff on TV and come out okay, but we know it isn't real."

Mikey's hand grasped something silky, but he didn't pull it out. He sat there with his hand buried in the box, lost in thought. "Maybe if I act more grown up my brothers will still do something for Halloween with me. I guess we don't HAVE to go trick or treating. We could do something else….I bet there's a scary movie marathon! Hmm…

"But I still have to act more grown up or they won't do that either. They'll say I'm gonna be a baby and cry and get scared. But how can I get more grown up? I only have a week!"

Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, Mikey drew out the silky thing his hand had closed around, which turned out to be a green and black polka dotted tie. He stared at it thoughtfully for a moment before setting behind him and diving into the box again.

-

Master Splinter had started to prepare dinner when he felt a small tug on his robe. "Ah, Michelangelo, did you-" Splinter cut himself off, surprised, as he got a good look at his youngest son.

Michelangelo stood there, wearing nice dress slacks that were way too big for him. They had been rolled up again and again so he could walk without tripping. A white dress shirt covered his torso, the sleeves rolled up as well. A green and black polka dotted tie hung from his neck, and the wire frames of glasses that no longer had glass in them balanced precariously on his beak.

Splinter stood speechless for a moment. "What are you..?"

"Mister Splinter, I believe you requested a conference with me about my previous behavior," Mikey said, adding a sort of pompous accent to his voice.

"Yes…yes. Have a seat, my son."

Mikey climbed into the chair and folded his hands neatly, looking bored.

"Would you mind telling me what happened earlier?" Master Splinter said, trying not to seem too surprised at Michelangelo's sudden change. "Did one of your brothers say something to you?"

"We had a slight misunderstanding, yes," Mikey said, with the pompous edge still in his voice. "But you know how they are, kids will be kids of course. I apologize for my indescribable behavior."

"Thank you for apologizing," Splinter said. "Did you finish with the clothes?"

"Yes, Mister Splinter, I did. I hope you will find the job to be satis…satisfa.."

"Satisfactory," Splinter said gently.

"Yes. That. Now, if you could excuse me, I have a lot of work to do…?"

"By all means," Splinter said, standing. He watched his son stumble out of the room as he tried not to trip on the slacks. The rat decided he would wait to see how this panned out before taking any immediate action, and turned back to making dinner.

-

"Hey, Mikey, wanna…what are you doing?"

Mikey looked up from his notebook and found Don standing there. "Boring paperwork. Nothing you would be interested in."

"Since when do you do paperwork?" Don asked, raising an eyeridge. "What paperwork is there to do!?"

"You know, have to keep bread on the table," Mike said, making another mark in his notebook.

"Mikey, Splinter keeps bread on the table," Don said.

"What the…hey, bozo, why are you dressed like that?" Raph asked, catching sight of his orange-clad brother in his strange getup. "It's not Halloween yet you know!"

"This is not a Halloween costume, Raphael," Mikey said. "Halloween is childish."

"But Mikey, you love Halloween!"

"I would prefer," Mikey said, setting down his pencil and looking at the pair of them over the rims of his fake glasses, "if you referred to me as "Mister Michelangelo" from now on."

" 'Mister Michelangelo'?! What the hell, Mikey?"

"AND I would prefer if you not use that sort of coarse language around me, Raphael. It is a very jubinal habit."

"You mean 'juvenile'," said Don.

"Yes. That," Mikey said haughtily. He checked his watch and gasped. "Oh no! I'm missing the news!" He tossed aside his notebook and plucked the remote from the couch, aiming it at the television and flipping it to the news station.

"Are you sure aliens don't exist, Don?" Raph whispered to his brother, "'Cause I think Mikey got taken over by some! He hates the news!"

Don shrugged. "I don't know what's going on with him." He looked over at where Mikey was intently fixated on the news, "But it's weird, whatever it is."

Before the boys could discuss it further, Splinter called them to dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay, I'm kind of embarrassed. This is a Halloween story being finished in December, almost Christmas. I suddenly got bombed with a lot of work, so, I apologize. It's still a holiday story! Just…the wrong holiday. :P

Anyway, enjoy the second and final chapter!

-

Splinter was using all of his self control not to sit at the table with his jaw hanging open.

Michelangelo had just come in right after being called, washed his hands without being asked, and was now loading up his plate with peas, the most hated of all vegetables!

His other sons, it seemed, would not be able to offer any insight either – they seemed as shocked as he.

"Yessiree," Mikey kept saying, "These peas sure are good for you." He waved his spoon at his speechless brothers. "You young'uns better grab some too if you wanna grow up big and strong like Uncle Mikey."

'Uncle Mikey!?' Raph mouthed at Don, who merely shrugged helplessly.

This went on for the rest of dinner, after which Splinter announced a rare surprise for his sons – dessert.

As he sliced pieces of the lemon meringue pie, he handed the plates to Leonardo to hand out amongst his brothers.

"Want some pie, Mikey?" Leo asked, offering the plate.

Mikey sat with his arms folded, staring straight across.

"Mikey? Do want the pie or not? Mikey?" Leo frowned, "Mister Michelangelo?"

At this, Mikey turned and grinned at his brother. "Ah, no thanks Leonardo, I'd love to, but I can't." He patted his stomach, "Doc says I gotta lay off the cholesterol."

"We don't even have a doctor!" Don protested. "Not a real one!"

"Well, see you kids around," Mikey said, climbing down from his chair. "Back to the ol' grindstone." And he left, leaving the rest of his family completely dumbstruck.

-

"This is so wrong!" Raph said, pounding his fist into his palm. "We gotta do somethin'."

The three brothers were crowded on Leo's bed, trying to figure out what was going on with their youngest brother.

"Maybe first we'd better figured out what's causing him to act like this," Don pointed out sensibly.

"Donnie's right," said Leo. "Everybody think – what could have happened to make Mikey act like a grown up, uptight-"

"Jerk?"

"No, Raph. Well okay, yeah. A jerk."

They all sat quietly for a few minutes, thinking back on the events of the afternoon.

"He was all excited about Halloween.." Don started slowly. "I told him I wasn't really planning on doing anything for it."

"He came an' bugged me about it too!" Raph said.

"Me too…" Leo said thoughtfully. "Actually, he seemed pretty upset when I told him we were getting too old."

At the last two words of Leo's sentence, the brothers looked at each other.

"That's it!" Don exclaimed. "Too old!"

"Well…we are. Aren't we?"

"Maybe. But Mikey thinks since we're too old for Halloween, he has to be too!" Leo said, "Right?" he looked at Don for confirmation.

"That would make sense," Don said, nodding.

"So how do we get him back to normal?" Raph wanted to know.

"He wanted to act like a grown up so he'd be grown up enough for us, right?" Leo said, "So maybe if we act like kids-"

"You mean act like Mikey."

"-Then he might go back to how he was before," the blue-clad turtle finished, glaring at Raphael for the interruption.

"It might work," Don shrugged.

"Okay, huddle." The three brothers crowded around each other, and Leo lowered his head, "Here's what we do…"

-

"Um, Master Splinter?"

The rat turned from where he was washing dishes to find Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael standing there.

"Yes?"

There was some hesitation among the boys before Leonardo and Raphael finally pushed Donatello forward.

Glaring at them, the purple-clad turtle said, "Um, we were wondering if you would take us trick or treating tonight."

Splinter was surprised. "But I thought you boys expressed no desire to go this year?"

"That was before Mikey got all wacky sensei!" Raph exclaimed. "We need to get him back to normal! And the only way to do that is to show him how much fun bein' a kid is!"

"I see." Splinter said slowly. "Very well. It is still early – I will take you." Truthfully, the old rat was beginning to miss his playful Michelangelo as well. This new 'adult' one simply was not his son.

"Thank you sensei!" Three voices chorused cheerfully.

As Leonardo and Raphael went up to scrounge up last-minute costumes, Donatello went to find his brother.

-

Mikey looked up from the notebook he was 'writing' in and looked at the calendar, sighing. Halloween had approached, and his plan hadn't worked at all. His brothers hadn't said anything about wanting to do something with him for the holiday.

He put his pencil down as he saw Don approach him. Maybe they had just waited to see if he was going to keep up his grown-up act for the whole week!

'I bet Don is going to see if I'm going to drop the act!' He thought, 'Well I'll show him! I'll be extra grown up!'

"Can I help you Donatello?" he asked haughtily. "I am very busy."

Don reached up and tugged on his hand. "Splinter is taking us trick or treating, Mister Michelangelo! Come with us!"

Mikey blinked. "What? But-" Remembering himself, he looked down his beak at his brother. "It is too late. We can't go out now."

"That's okay!" Don said eagerly. "Splinter's said it was okay!"

"Well…I guess I'll come," Mikey said reluctantly, "Just to help Mister Splinter keep control of you three."

"Great!" Don said enthusiastically, dragging Mike off the couch and to the door where the rest of his family was waiting.

Unable to find something better, Raph and Leo had opted to go as "ghosts" with old bedsheets with eyeholes cut into them thrown over their bodies.

"Stay together now," Mikey ordered as he lead the way out. The rest of his family followed, his brothers exchanging glances with Master Splinter.

The night was still young – it was barely eight o'clock when they hit the streets.

Raph, Don and Leo all began to push Mikey as they approached a house, "Let's go to this one! Come on! Let's go to this one!"

"Uh, I think I should stay back here with Splinter," said Mike.

"No my son, go with your brothers and make sure they are polite to the people," Splinter said with a wink at the rest of the children.

"Oh. Yes! Very well, I will," Mikey said, grabbing up Leo and Don's hands, preparing to cross the street. "Raphael, you hold Leonardo's hand," he ordered seriously.

"What!?"

"We have to hold hands to cross the street."

"I am not-"

"Raph." Leo gave his brother a look. The red-clad turtle sighed and took Leo's offered hand.

Mikey nodded approvingly, then lead the way across the street to the first house, climbing up the steps and ringing the doorbell.

A woman in her mid-forties opened the door, "Oh! Aren't you precious! I know you two are ghosts," she said, bending down to look at Raph and Leo. "And very scary ones!" Her gaze turned to Mikey and Don, "and you two are very adorable um…aliens?"

Don merely smiled and nodded.

"Well I think I might have some goodies for you," the smiling woman said, bringing out a large bowl full of candy and putting a handful into each of Leo's, Don's and Raph's bags. When she moved to hand some to Mikey, he shook his head and backed away.

"No thanks ma'am. I'm just making sure my brothers here don't get into trouble. Besides, you know what they say, sugar's not good for the ol' ticker."

The woman looked surprised, but smiled. "Well! What a good brother you are. All right, bye bye now. Be careful crossing the street!"

The brothers left her house and went to a few others (Splinter always carefully watching from the shadows).

Each time, Mikey politely declined the candy offered to him and stood back from his brothers.

After a few more blocks, the turtles were starting to become discouraged.

"Maybe it ain't workin'," Raph said quietly, as he watched Mikey explain to Splinter why accepting apples on Halloween was dangerous, "Maybe he's stuck like that."

"Mikey isn't broken, Raph," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

Don was looking unsure. "I sure hope he's not stuck like that. He's no fun this way!"

"We only got one block left," Raph said, "If this don't turn him back, I dunno what will."

"Well, let's finish the block at least," Leo shrugged, before gesturing to Mikey they were ready to go to the next block.

"Boy, chasing you kids around sure is tough on the old farts like us, don't'cha know," Mike said, as he followed them to the final house. He stopped as he reached the porch, "I'll just wait here and rest."

"Whatever," Raph rolled his eyes, "Anything to get away from 'Mister Michelangelo.'"

They rang the doorbell, which was answered by a young couple. The usual questions about costumes were answered, and the young bride went to get a few "special surprises" that her young guests were sure to love.

When she returned, she was holding four jumbo Hershey bars – they must have been a pound of chocolate each.

Cheerfully she handed each one out. When she got to Mikey, he started to reach out, then hesitated. "I…I can't."

The young woman cocked her head. "Are you allergic, honey?"

"N-no, I just…" Mikey swallowed, 'Must…resist…chocolate….oh….but it's so big…forget it!'

He held his hands out, "Nevermind. I'll take it!"

The bar was handed over, and he gleefully tore open the wrapper, taking a huge bite right there. His brothers crowded around him, relieved.

-

Back at home, the brothers sat on the floor of the living room, sorting their candy. They had managed to go to a less-crowded block to trick or treat, and Mikey had caught up with his brothers' candy earnings.

"Who knew all it would take to get you back to normal would be a chocolate bar," Raph quipped, shoving a few chocolate kisses into one pile.

Mikey shrugged. "I can't resist the charms of sugar."

"We never wanted you to change, Mikey," Leo said apologetically. "We like you how you are."

Mike grinned, but before he could say anything, Splinter appeared, surveying their candy piles.

"Yes my son, it is good to have you back. It is, as the wise man once said," Splinter bent over, picking up a bag of M&M's, "Live a little."


End file.
